TV SERIES: Das Boot (2018)

                        “Das Boot” is a miniseries that appeared on German TV.  It was eight episodes of about one hour each.  It was a sequel to the movie and is set about nine months later, in 1942.  The plot was based on Lothar-Gunther Buchheim’s novel and its sequel Die Festung.  It used the same non-diving replica used in “U-571”.

                        The series opens with a nifty visual of a dolphins swimming alongside a surfaced sub.  Suddenly a plane attacks, forcing a dive (“alarm!”) that leaves Capt. Wrangel (Stefan Konarske) on deck.  An American destroyer drops depth charges and the clichés click in.  The U-113 goes below crush depth, rivets pop and leaks cause flooding.  Close-ups show tension.  The series has hit the sea silent running.  It turns out that the U-113 is not the u-boat that will be the star.  That will be the U-612 which is a new boat that will be captained by a green Capt. Hoffman (Rick Okon).  He has daddy issues because his dad was a famous u-boat ace from WWI.  He wrote a book about it.  Hoffman has some big shoes to fill.  He won’t get any help from his exec Lt. Tennstedt (August Wittgenstein).  Naturally, they do not get along.  There is a “Run Silent, Run Deep” vibe.  Does any cinematic captain get along with his exec?

                        The other plot line involves the French Resistance.  An interpreter named Simone (Vicky Krieps) has arrived in La Rochelle and goes to work for the Gestapo.  Herr Forster (Tom Wlaschiha) takes a lust to her which will get complicated when Simone finds out her brother Frank (Leonard Schleicher) is working for the Resistance.  He happens to be a radio operator on board the U-612.  The local Resistance unit is led by Spanish Civil War veteran named Carla Monroe (Lizzy Caplan) who is a chain-smoking, morphine addicted fanatic.  Simone goes to work for her making for some tense moments in her romance with Forster.  There is some thought provocation with Simone and Carla representing different views on whether civilians are expendable for the greater cause.

                        If you’re going to do eight episodes, you can’t spend them all on a sub, apparently.  Plus, its hard to get a lesbian love scene.  The two arc approach works fairly well.  Surprisingly, the land-bound espionage plot is the better one.  With spy stories, we expect to suspend reality to get the close calls characteristic of the genre.  This arc is aided by the charismatic Wlaschiha (from “Game of Thrones”) and Caplan (from “Castle Rock”).  Overall, the cast of the series is fine, with Okon effective as untraditionally cautious Hoffman and Konarske malevolent and unhinged as Wrangel.  The triangle between Simone, Monroe, and Forster is unpredictable with the characters being intriguing.  It helps a lot that the subtitling is way above average, so their dialogue comes through accurately.  

  

                        The effort that went into the production is impressive.  It does not equal the movie, but its not a cheap knock-off.  The interior of the sub gets you right back on Das Boot.  The camera follows the crew through the interior.  The lighting is excellent.  And you also get the aural motif from that movie.  This nicely connects the two boats, although there is no connection in the narrative.  The sub plot is much more complicated than a typical tour.  And here is the main problem.  Where the movie “Das Boot” was a realistic depiction of a u-boat voyage, the series fills its extra running time with some outlandish plot developments.  The clicheish command dysfunction is poorly handled. Hoffman does not get off to the rocky start you would expect.  In fact, he is a good leader from the start.  Tennstedt may be pissed about not getting command, but he really has no justification for fomenting mutiny.  Hoffman does the stereotypical constant drilling, but it is warranted due to the crew being mostly green too.  He has orders to avoid contact, so the crew might grumble, but would hardly be insubordinate about it.  The show jumps the shark with the reintroduction of the Wrangel character.  What happens after is dramatic, but ludicrous given the nature of the u-boat service.

                        I recommend watching “Das Boot”, the series.  Just don’t expect an extended version of the movie.  You might enjoy it if you want a sub show that is not testosterone fueled.  In other words, it does not disregard the female demographic.  It’s entertaining in a binge-worthy way.

GRADE  =  B